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MVGLARKE. COMBINED BREAST AND SKIRT SUPPORTER AND SHOULDER BRAGE. No. 298,067.

Patented May 6, 1.884.

Fig. 3

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N, PFI'ERS, Photo-Lithograph". Waihinglou. n. c.

1 applied to the front of a person.

' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORTIMER CLARKE, OF 'VVASHINGTON, DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA.

COMBINED BREAST AND-SKIRT SUPPORTER AND SHOULDER-BRACE. 1

' SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 298,067, dated May 6,1884.

(No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be itknown that I, MORTIMER CLARKE, a citizen of the United States, residing at Washington city, in the District of Columbia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Combined Breast and Skirt Supporter and Shoulder-Brace, of which the following is a specification, reference beinghad therein to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view showing myimprovement Fig.- 2'is a view showing my improvement as it appears when applied to the back of a person. Fig. 3 is a View showing my improvement .detached from a person. Fig. 4 is a view of the back part of the pockets, shown in detail.

My object is to afford a combination of useful elements, which are especially adapted to the body of a woman-to wit, shoulder-strapswhich will support the lower skirts or other lower covering, a body-band, and pockets or receptacle for supporting the breasts of a woman, all of which are so eonstructedthat there will not be an abnormal pressure or closure about the body. It is a well-known hygienic fact that close corsets not only prevent a free respiration, but that they also compress the vital parts and do injury to the female;

My skeleton harness is for a female, and is adapted to serve, first, as a skirt-supporter, to prevent the well-known dragging weight on the abdomen; second, as asuspender, to transfer the weight of the skirt and drawers to the shoulders; third, as a brace, to hold back the shoulders; and, fourth, as an open snspensory, to support not only the skirt and drawers, but to sustain the breasts, all of which will be fully understood from the following description when taken in connection with the annexed drawings.

Before describing my improvement I will give a general statement of the state of the art which has preceded me, to wit: I am aware that acloth corset has beenused which is provided with shoulder-straps and also with devices such, for'instance, as buttons, hooks, and pins for attaching the skirt portion of such corset to the waistband of the drawers or petticoats, (skirts,) for the purpose of suspending the same. I am also aware that suspensory-straps have been combined with corsets, wherein elastic bands are used over the dorsal portions of the skeleton supporter.

In carrying out my invention I dispense with corsets and use straps and pockets, as I shall now explain.

A A designate two pockets, which are composed of woven elastic or inelastic cloth. These pockts may in practice be composed of net-work, or they may be made of cotton or linen cloth properly stayed, as is well known in the art of manufacturing corsets. To the base of these breast-pockets I suitably secure a waistband, (J, which may be composed in part or entirely of elastic material, and which is provided with a buckle, hook and eye, or any other suitable fastening. To the right and left anglesof the said pockets A A I secure shoulder straps D D, which are united at their posterior extremity, as indicated at a, forming at the back a bandage representing the letter V. At or near the angle of the junction of the strap or straps which forms this V bandage or. brace is a loop, b.

The harness or supporter is applied by passing the V-shaped suspender over the head, and attaching the same to the waistband O by passing oneof the straps thereof through the loop 6, and buckling in front or at the side. At the ends of the shoulder-straps D D, where they are secured to the waistband O, I have either an extension of these suspenders in one piece therewith or separate parts thereof on each side of the body, forming suspenders G G G. These suspenders may be provided with snap-hooks on their lower ends, or they may be provided with hook fastening devices; or

such fastening devices may be omitted and pins used. The suspenders Gare designed to serve as means for supporting skirts on the shoulder-straps D D and the breast-pockets A A by the waistband of a ladys under-dress. Some of the said suspenders G may be attached by snap-pins or other fastenings to the drawers and others to the waist of the skirt. It is obvious that any number of the pendent suspenders may be used, and that they may be quire.

It will be observed from what I have above stated that I dispense with what are known as corsets, and obviate all the evils attending made of different lengths, as circumstances resuch devices, and that I make an open or skeleton supporter for the bust of a woman, and eflectually relieve certain parts from draft or strain, which it is always desirable to protect in a female. Not only is it desirable to prevent the dragging down of the garments on the hips and abdomen. but it is also desirable to afford free respiration of the body. All of this is accomplished by the invention hereinbefore explained.

Having described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. The combination, in a breast and skirt support and shoulder-brace, of a back V- shaped brace having a loop, 1), near the terminal portion a of their union, a waistband, 0, adapted to pass through said loop, and breast pockets A A, secured to said waistband, and

MORTIMER CLARKE.

\Vitnesses:

R. T. CAMPBELL, M. P. CALLAN. 

